The invention relates to the field of delivering digital entertainment media.
The Internet is changing the distribution of music and video content. Recent advances in audio and video compression, higher bandwidth Internet connections, and the decreasing cost of memory have made it practical for users to download audio and video content via the Internet to personal computers and other dedicated digital devices. The downloaded content can also be transferred to CDs, mini-discs, or digital video discs and played on other audio and video devices such as MP3 players.
Typically, a user who wishes to download a particular album or video via the Internet searches for the title at a Web site, finds the title, and requests that it be downloaded. A digital file containing the requested content is then transferred to the user""s computer using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and stored on the computer""s hard disc. Even with high-speed lines, the download time may be ten minutes or more, depending on the amount and type of data requested by the user.
This practice of using the same computer to search for and then download requested content has several disadvantages. To begin with, the downloading process may occupy most or all of the bandwidth of the user""s connection and may prevent or degrade simultaneous activities such as browsing or viewing a streaming multimedia program. In addition, the user is often not at his or her PC when he or she hears music or sees a video that he or she wishes to request. Accordingly, the user must later remember to download the desired material. This may require the user to write down the music title of interest on a piece of paper and save the paper until he or she logs on to the Internet.
Another alternative for downloading digital content is to download the desired content to a wireless device, such as a WAP-enabled cell phone. But this alternative also has certain drawbacks. Current wireless data networks used for cell phones, pagers, and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) are limited to connection rates of approximately 10 kilobits per second and lower transfer rates. Consequently, such devices are unsuitable for transferring quality media recorded in the hundreds to millions of kilobits per second range. Moreover, even if wireless-download data rates increase in the future, the cost of wireless bandwidth is likely to remain significantly higher than the cost of wired or fiber bandwidth. In addition, downloading content to the user""s wireless device occupies available bandwidth and decreases the amount of data that the user may receive during the download.
The system disclosed herein facilitates the purchase and delivery of audio and video content (e.g., entertainment media) over the Internet. In a preferred embodiment, the disclosed system allows a user who hears or sees an audio or video broadcast to use a cell phone or other wireless device to order the broadcast material, and have it remotely delivered to an independent device (e.g., the user""s personal computer) without further user intervention. Thus, the system allows the user to order the desired content using a wireless device that the user will often have in his or her possession when he or she hears or sees the desired content, but to have the content delivered to a second remote device.
In a preferred embodiment, the disclosed system comprises a Web site that is accessible via a digital wireless device to allow a user to request selected entertainment content for download to a second device. This system architecture makes it simple to deploy the present system as a service to be provided to users.
The user preferably pre-registers with the Web site, typically from the second device. A software agent is installed on the second device that acts as an agent for the service and facilitates downloading of requested content to the second device. In a preferred embodiment, the second device may be a personal computer owned by the user that is connected to the Internet via an always-on connection, such as a cable modem. In an alternative embodiment, the software agent may periodically dial to the Internet to check for content to be delivered. A payment arrangement may also be established during the registration process.
Once registered, the user may log on to the Web site from his or her cell phone or other wireless device (e.g., a personal digital assistant (PDA)). The service provided by the Web site is synchronized with the broadcast content of a broadcast network, such as a broadcast radio station, a cable network, or a digital satellite network. In a preferred embodiment, a user listening, for example, to a radio station may transmit a station identifier to the Web site. The Web site identifies the content currently being broadcast on the station, and then downloads a screen to the user""s wireless device that displays information concerning the broadcast content and gives the user the option of downloading that content (e.g., the current song) to the second device. If the user selects this option, the Web site contacts the software agent in the second device and arranges for download and archiving of that content in that device or to another connected device or storage medium.